Few people rely on their voice as much as Guy Perryman, the
39-year-old DJ at 76.1 InterFM. Besides his six-hour show
from 10am-4pm each weekday, Perryman pre-records programs
for Virgin Megastores' cable radio channel, hosts the
inflight J-Pop channel for Virgin Atlantic Airways, does voice
narrations and a little bit of party and club DJing.

"I do say no to some jobs because I only want to do
things I enjoy. Radio is my main love," says Perryman,
who was born in the UK but grew up in Australia. He got his
start in radio in Sydney, before moving to Virgin Megastores,
where he stayed for seven years. When Virgin opened its store
in Tokyo in 1990, Perryman's boss in Sydney was appointed
manager, and brought Perryman with him. "I think I'll
remain here for the foreseeable future," he says, "although
ideally I'd like to spend 80 percent of my time in
Japan and 20 percent in Australia."

Perryman's six-hour show is long by anyone's
standards. It's all in English and features mostly
music and interviews. "It's sometimes hard to
stay focused for that long. You can't walk away and
have a cup of coffee for ten minutes because you are on every
three minutes. I graze on snacks all day," he says.
"We have a good audience among the foreign community
as well as many Japanese. There are a lot of people in offices
listening to us, too. We get emails all day and faxes. Some
of the emails come from listeners on trains."

Perryman has interviewed lots of high-profile guests, including
the Chemical Brothers, Sting ("a real gentleman")
and Nile Rogers, who was "tons of fun," he recalls.
"A few guests I know nothing about, but there are a
lot of listeners out there who know a lot more about the artists
than I do, so I have to make sure I can get to something in
the interview that hardcore fans will appreciate."

While he covers all genres on his show, Perryman's
own tastes run more to new cutting-edge sounds from the jazz
and club scenes. "I come from a UK punk-new-wave background.
When house music was created in the early '80s, I was
starting to do club DJing and these two fused at the right
time. I tend to keep getting into new music styles and I can't
throw music away. I've still got every record I bought
when I was a kid. I've probably got 10,000 CDs."

As the industry goes through technological changes, Perryman
believes there will always be a demand for local radio. "Internet
radio is extremely interesting, but it's impersonal.
It's just about finding music. Old-fashioned FM will
always be needed for people to tune in for today's
weather, what's happening this weekend, to listen to
other people they like."

Photo
credit: Chris Betros

q&a

Byung-Hun Park

"More than ever, Japanese are studying
Korean," says Byung-Hun Park. And that's good
news for the 39-year-old owner of Tokyo's largest Korean
bookstore. Starting out as an academic wholesaler providing
textbooks and dictionaries to Japanese universities, Koma
Book Co. in Chiyoda-ku (www.komabook.co.jp)
has ridden the recent mania for all things Korean-as
has Park himself. In addition to stocking his shop with novels,
cookbooks and idoru accessories, the boyish book dealer hosts
a weekly K-pop radio show with the Korean actress Mayu Sonoda,
which can be heard on BS TV channel 300 every Tuesday from
8:40-9:25pm.

How do you enjoy your radio show?
Actually, I enjoy that more than the bookstore.

What do you think of K-pop?
Korean musicians sing very, very well, they dance well, they
look really good. They have all those elements combined, so
I think Korean music is by far the best in Asia and very competitive
with American music.

Have you had Boa on your show?
Not yet.

Do you have a favorite Korean restaurant in Tokyo?
Too many to tell! After recording the radio show, I always
go to a restaurant in Shin-Okubo, Tae Han Min Gu (03-5292-4448).
What's good there? Sam gyup sal, a kind of grilled
pork.

What misconceptions do Japanese have about Korea?
There's a big difference between the older and younger
generation now. The older generation still thinks Korea is
a backward country, and the first thing that comes to mind
is the Japanese occupation. Deep inside their hearts they
still degrade Koreans. The younger generation-because
of this rage of Korean TV shows and everything-have
a very positive image of Korea.

I see a lot of Bae Yong-Jun goods here.
Seventy-year-old women come and change into his T-shirt and
walk out the door! Even Koreans have a hard time figuring
out why he's so popular-there are better and
better-looking actors.

How long will the Korea boom last?
As long as there are famous Korean stars, I think this rage
will continue for a long time. But since Japanese people are
sometimes weird, they all of a sudden turn back and suddenly
start to like another actor or something. ST